A firefighter's garments normally include a bunker coat and bunker trousers. Each of these garments conventionally comprises an outer layer or shell which is flame and abrasion resistant and an intermediate liner which is a moisture barrier layer and an inner liner which is a thermal barrier layer. Conventionally, these layers may be three separate distinct layers or one or two members. A firefighter's coat or jacket normally includes a body portion and a pair of arm length sleeve portions.
Most injuries to firefighters and most deaths of firefighters occur as a result of stress to the firefighter during firefighting activity. Therefore, attempts have been made to reduce the stress which occurs in a firefighter by reducing the weight of clothing worn by the firefighter during firefighting activity and by providing greater ventilation within the firefighter's clothing during firefighting activity.
In many fire department stations the firefighters who are on duty and on call wear station trousers composed of thermal protective materials. During the day, the firefighters are wearing these station trousers when they don firefighting bunker trousers. Under these conditions the conventional thermal liners may be removed from the firefighters' firefighting trousers since they are effectively replaced by the station trousers which contain thermal insulation material. To wear two layers of thermal protective material (station trousers and liner layer of firefighting bunker trousers) while fighting a fire would add unnecessary bulk and impose unnecessary stress on the firefighter. When the firefighters don their firefighting bunker trousers, the firefighters have the thermal protection of their station trousers and the moisture protection of the moisture barrier layer within their firefighting trousers and the flame and abrasion protection of the shell of their firefighting trousers. Therefore, when the firefighters don their firefighting bunker trousers they have proper thermal protection, while also having proper moisture and flame and abrasion protection.
When the firefighters prepare for sleeping they remove their station trousers. Therefore, the firefighters place the conventional thermal protective liners back into their firefighting bunker trousers. Thus, during sleeping periods the firefighters' bunker trousers have the thermal protective liners therein, as well as the moisture barrier layer and the flame and abrasion resistant shell. Thus, the firefighters' bunker uniforms are ready for donning when a fire call is received in the fire station. Therefore, a firefighter can quickly don the firefighting bunker trousers. In this procedure the firefighter always wears adequate protective trousers during firefighting activity, but duplication of protective material within the clothing worn during firefighting does not occur.
Such an integrated liner removal procedure with regard to a firefighter's bunker coat is much more difficult. In many fire stations a firefighter while on duty in the fire station wears a shirt which is composed of thermal protective material. Under these conditions a firefighter may remove the thermal barrier liner from the firefighter's bunker coat. Thus, when the thermal barrier liner is removed, the firefighter's bunker coat contains only a moisture barrier layer and an abrasion and flame resistant shell. When a fire call alarm is received in the fire station, the firefighter dons the bunker coat. When this occurs the firefighter is protected by the thermal barrier material of the station shirt and by the moisture barrier material liner and the abrasion resistant shell of the bunker coat. Such a procedure is proper when the firefighter wears a shirt with arm length sleeves while in the fire station and while on call.
However, in summer many firefighters wear a short sleeve shirt while on duty and on call in the fire station. Under these conditions the firefighter can not remove the thermal barrier liner from the firefighter's bunker coat due to the fact that there would not be proper thermal protection of the firefighter's arms when the firefighter's bunker coat is donned. This mix of long/short sleeve style station shirts, (typically by season) has caused most fire departments to avoid removable thermal liners in firefighters' coats, even though such a move would be less stressful to the firefighter when station shirts are worn during firefighting activity.
An object of this invention is to provide means and a method by which the same firefighter's bunker coat can always be adequately prepared for donning and for firefighting activity while the firefighter is on duty and on call in the fire station, wearing either full length or short sleeve station uniform shirts.
Another object of this invention is to provide such means and method by which the firefighter's bunker coat having removable portions is always prepared with adequate protective material but without excessive duplication of protective material when considering the interplay with thermally protective station shirts (either short or long sleeve).
Another object of this invention is to provide such means and a method by which a firefighter's bunker coat can be easily and readily adequately prepared for firefighting activity regardless of the nature of the clothing worn by the firefighter while on call and on duty in a fire station.
Other objects and advantages of this invention reside in the construction of parts, the combination thereof, the method of production and the mode of use, as will become more apparent from the following description.